[Geosnooker]

Originally Posted by jaime_lion

I always find stuff like this funny. Its like where do you live and how old are you? I don't know anyone with 6 kids who works near a coal mine. Everyone I know is white. because where I live like 95% of the population is white.

I was 8 years old the first time I saw a black person. I wasn’t even sure black people were real or just in stories. We called blacks ‘Golliwogs’. My father was sent as as liaison officer for a year to the USA to North Carolina, A few weeks later we white and black kids were all playing together as 8 year olds do.

Fast forward to today, one of my Snooker mates is from Trinidad...a changed world.

[HomeBrewer]

[QUOTE=As big as when I was a kid? Never again. Too many lost souls walking around with a phone shoved up their nose.[/QUOTE]

This. And it probably applies to lots of things - music, writing, pool, etc. I'm 40 and grew up without cell phones and I miss those times (which ironic since I work in IT).

I've now got friends my age who I don't bother seeing much anymore because to get lunch or a quick drink with them is to watch them stare at their phone for an hour. I don't know what happened.

I won't bring my phone to the dinner table because I don't want my kids watching me stare at it.

[animatedvmaker]

Originally Posted by jaime_lion

So I saw someone say pool was dying and I googled. It does look like the popularity of pool is decreasing. Do you think pool will die out entirely? Also I am curious what is the average age of pool players in your area? I am 31 so lets use that for an arbitrary line. How many people are older or younger than 31?

Thanks for the info.

Look at the average age of league players in your local region, for the answer to your question.

Also, is there a junior league in your area, and how many players does it have?

If asking about pool in the US, then yeah, I think that pool in the US is dying.

Pool will never die for the bangers though. The bangers will never stop buying pool tables for their houses, and there will always be pool halls, but they will come with restaurants and bars in them.

The real pool rooms are and have been dying for a long time.

I feel that pool with younger players was much more popular back in the 90's then it has been over the last 20 years. Young people just stopped wanting to play, and pool seems to have lost interest with the younger players, and college crowd.

[Geosnooker]

Originally Posted by HomeBrewer

This. And it probably applies to lots of things - music, writing, pool, etc. I'm 40 and grew up without cell phones and I miss those times (which ironic since I work in IT).

I've now got friends my age who I don't bother seeing much anymore because to get lunch or a quick drink with them is to watch them stare at their phone for an hour. I don't know what happened.

I won't bring my phone to the dinner table because I don't want my kids watching me stare at it.

Last year the organizer of one of our pool get-togethers finished taking a shot and looked at the other three players who were playing at the table at the time. All three of them were staring at their cell phones. He didn’t say a word. He just took his cue apart, put it in his case and went and over to pay his tab. That’s when one of the other players realized he wasn’t there, Next week there was a new rule. No cell phones at the table. ‘Oh, is it my shot?’.

[jaime_lion]

Originally Posted by animatedvmaker

Look at the average age of league players in your local region, for the answer to your question.

Also, is there a junior league in your area, and how many players does it have?

If asking about pool in the US, then yeah, I think that pool in the US is dying.

Pool will never die for the bangers though. The bangers will never stop buying pool tables for their houses, and there will always be pool halls, but they will come with restaurants and bars in them.

The real pool rooms are and have been dying for a long time.

I feel that pool with younger players was much more popular back in the 90's then it has been over the last 20 years. Young people just stopped wanting to play, and pool seems to have lost interest with the younger players, and college crowd.

Thanks you just gave me another incite. I live in an apartment. So do pretty much all the people I know and hang out with. So having a home pool table would be cumbersome with space being at a premium. Also if your renting you possibly could not afford one. Also also it would be something else to move. I mean those are things you can find ways around and such but they are one more reason pool might be loosing popularity.

[Geosnooker]

Originally Posted by jaime_lion

Thanks you just gave me another incite. I live in an apartment. So do pretty much all the people I know and hang out with. So having a home pool table would be cumbersome with space being at a premium. Also if your renting you possibly could not afford one. Also also it would be something else to move. I mean those are things you can find ways around and such but they are one more reason pool might be loosing popularity.

I’m in my mid 60’s. I didn’t know anyone with a Home table when I grew up and I lived in different places. Houses were mostly farm type houses with perhaps two generations and 10 kids. Or they were three-bedroom bungalow’s with an unfinished basement and three kids. The idea of a pool table was as as alien to my youth ( perhaps not others) as having a spaceship in the backyard. Certainly some people had tables but they would’ve been rare amongst working class people, farmers etc.

Today I live on a circle of eight houses. I know three of them, minimum, have billiard tables. I have friends who don’t even play pool and have a table. Just about every house built in my city in the last couple decades is over 2000 ft.² and has room for what people call a ‘games room’.

[TxBullDog]

Pool in Texas is on a upswing. I have seen several new pool halls open up in areas I never expected like in San Antonio and other areas. I lived all over Texas in every major city. I think pool will start to become even more popular. Heck we even have a new pool movie coming out next month... walkaway joe! I think the image problem is always there but the sport is not going away... I still would love to see it in the Olympics and a better sponsored Pro tour... Bottom line is just have fun playing pool and enjoy the social aspects once all this Covid-19 is over because it will always be a “pleasure of small motions” that helps everybody escape dealing with life on life’s terms.... This will always keep pool alive. Average age in Texas is either in your twenties or old as dirt cowboy ��. It’s a very wide range from what I have seen across the state.

[LHP5]

Out of the rooms I have played in or used to play in the average age would definitely be 40+. Not too many teenagers or people in their early 20’s. I agree with a post above and do notice a pretty big gap of people in the 30’s.

[trinacria]

pool will never die. ever. its the most fascinating game ever created in all forms, from snooker to Russian billiards to carom to American games. you need intelligence, have to be athletically inclined, its problem solving, its cleverness and on and on. that's why its so rewarding when you do things right. itll make a comeback again, it just shifted. I see the Asians are coming up big now in the pro circuit, eastern Europeans are more noticeable, eventually itll come back stateside. I don't think itll ever die.

[HNTFSH]

Originally Posted by jaime_lion

Thanks you just gave me another incite. I live in an apartment. So do pretty much all the people I know and hang out with. So having a home pool table would be cumbersome with space being at a premium. Also if your renting you possibly could not afford one. Also also it would be something else to move. I mean those are things you can find ways around and such but they are one more reason pool might be loosing popularity.

Confused. You think it was different for the generations before yours?

[jaime_lion]

Originally Posted by HNTFSH

Confused. You think it was different for the generations before yours?

I guess so? Was it not can you explain?

[HNTFSH]

Originally Posted by jaime_lion

I guess so? Was it not can you explain?

Reads like you are correlating a decrease in pool popularity to young people living in apartments and not owning tables because of it. Therefore decreased interest in the sport.

I didn't own a table until 30 after building a house at 27. But all the years leading up to that, being young, it was more fun playing in bars and pool halls anyway.

So I'm not sure how renting apartments has much to do with pool popularity.

[jaime_lion]

Originally Posted by HNTFSH

Reads like you are correlating a decrease in pool popularity to young people living in apartments and not owning tables because of it. Therefore decreased interest in the sport.

I didn't own a table until 30 after building a house at 27. But all the years leading up to that, being young, it was more fun playing in bars and pool halls anyway.

So I'm not sure how renting apartments has much to do with pool popularity.

I was are you saying that my correlation is wrong? I don't know very many people who would build their own house. Also I know tons of people who are still living in apartments way past 30. Maybe I am wrong though. Feel free to correct me.

Basically if you want to get good you need your own set up. That way you can practice anytime on your own. And I just don't see that happening at least where I live.

[HNTFSH]

Originally Posted by jaime_lion

I guess so? Was it not can you explain?

Originally Posted by jaime_lion

I was are you saying that my correlation is wrong? I don't know very many people who would build their own house. Also I know tons of people who are still living in apartments way past 30. Maybe I am wrong though. Feel free to correct me.

Basically if you want to get good you need your own set up. That way you can practice anytime on your own. And I just don't see that happening at least where I live.

I think it would be hard to take your microcosm and apply it to the entire US. Pool is cheap, if you want table time, it doesn't cost much. Anyone can develop a great game on rented table time. It's commitment like anything else.

[BC21]

Looking at stats/analytics on my YouTube channel, I'm surprised that most viewers and subscribers are older, over 40 or 50. Maybe it's because I'm not a young hotshot anymore and I don't engage well with younger players. I have a tendency to explain/talk too much, and I know when I was younger I had less patience for listening to a bunch of words. I also know that most younger pool players have larger egos than older, more experienced players, so the likelihood of younger players seeking help to improve their game is probably not as common when compared to older, more humble players.

I'm curious now about the age demographics of other pool-related YouTube channels, and whether or not there's a developing trend with pool in general or of it's just a channel-specific anomaly.